Longest trip is last. The longest road trip of the season will also be the last one on the schedule for Seattle Pacific University's 12th-ranked men's basketball team. The Falcons (12-2, 20-3) make the 3100-mile round trip north to Alaska this week, needing pair of wins to remain in contention for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship. They begin with Alaska Anchorage (8-6, 8-15) Thursday night (Feb. 21) and play their fifth straight away game Saturday (Feb. 23) at Alaska Fairbanks (1-13, 3-20). The final two regular season games at are home, beginning Feb. 28 with Western Oregon.

Once every dozen years. Having fallen behind Humboldt State in the standings following last week's loss at Western Washington, the Falcons can ill-afford another setback, lest they lose control of their own destiny in the conference and region. They will host the Lumberjacks in the final game of the regular season Mar. 2. But sweeping Anchorage and Fairbanks is something SPU has not accomplished in 11 years (since Ken Bone's first Alaska trip as head coach), and it has never won a two-game season series with Alaska Anchorage. Seattle Pacific will likely remain at No. 3 in the West Region this week, but it must win its remaining four games to have a chance to earn one of the top two seeds and, thus, a bye in the first round of the NCAA Division II tournament. Only the top six teams from the region will qualify for the playoffs.

No snow, just really cold. While the Mariners begin to limber-up amid temperatures in the mid-80s in Arizona, Seattle Pacific is bound for the ice box. Forecasts call for thermometers to stay below 20 degrees during their trip, including an overnight low of minus-7 in Fairbanks. Fortunately the games will be played inside and where the Falcons are warm, if not hot. They feature a sharpshooting cast which shoots 49.2 percent from the field (first in the GNAC, 13th in the NCAA) and 76 percent (first and 12th, respectively) at the foul line. SPU has finished above 50 percent from the floor in seven of the last 10 games, however it's coming off an uncharacteristic poor night (40 percent, 27 in the second half) at Western Washington.

Top marksman. Fairbanks may be the home of the NCAA championship rifle team each of the last three years. But on the basketball court, few marksmen in the GNAC can compare with Nick Johnson (Sr., 6-3, Burlington, Wa./Burlington-Edison), who hits 54.7 percent from the field and could have a go at the school record for free throw accuracy. Johnson's hitting 89.4 percent at the foul line (12th in the nation) whereas the record is 90.2. The Falcons are well ahead of the record pace as a team of .741, set in 1966-67.

More and more B.S. After pacing the team with 16 points against Western, Brannon Stone (Sr., 6-9, Oak Harbor, Wa.) is now No. 5 on the school's career scoring list, surpassing Dave Wortman (1958-62) and it's likely he'll remain there, needing 194 points for No. 3. But he could climb elsewhere. With 10 more steals he becomes the all-time leader and he's 40 rebounds from No. 3. Stone, who has owned every blocked shot record since midway through his sophomore season, leads the team in assists (4.3), rebounds (6.1), 3-pointers (43) and blocked shots (1.35) and is No. 3 in scoring (10.6).

Yuey almost did it again. Seattle Pacific nearly pulled out another last-minute comeback against the Vikings, lopping an 18-point deficit to four points before falling 88-80. The chief culprit, as it was a week earlier at Northwest Nazarene, was Yusef Aziz (Jr., 6-4, Seattle, Wa./Foster-Highline CC). He again overcame a subpar shooting performance with dogged determination. Aziz struck for four straight points, making it 82-78 with 30 seconds left. He finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds­his second double-double of the season­but is due for an even bigger game after going 8-25 from the field in the last two outings. Aziz, a top candidate for newcomer of the year, is eighth in GNAC scoring (16.0) and field-goal percentage (.556) and seventh in steals (1.74).

Put-backs. Seattle Pacific has hit at least 50 percent from the floor in seven of the last 10 games. In the five games in which it has shot under 45 percent, the record is only 3-2...The Falcons trail Cal State San Bernardino and Humboldt in the region. Montana State Billings, Cal State Bakersfield and Hawaii Pacific rounded out the top six in the West last week but Western Washington could replace Billings in the top six later this week...Defensively, SPU leads the GNAC in all three statistical categories: scoring (65.7), field-goal percentage (.408) and 3-point percentage (.339). It is 9-0 when holding foes's shooting to 40 percent or less and it's 17-1 when forcing more turnovers. Western was the first foe in nine games to shoot 45 percent or better...Seattle Pacific also leads the conference in scoring margin (+15.1) and is second in rebounding margin (+4.7) and steals (9.1)...Daniel Sandrin (Jr., 6-7, Bothell, Wa./Bothell-Portland) is fourth in field-goal percentage (.580). Johnson is third in free throw accuracy and ninth in field goal percentage. Stone is fifth in assists and blocks. He swatted a season-high four WWU shots last week.

Opponent & series notes. Alaska Anchorage is in the throes of its first losing season in 19 years but the Seawolves have won six of their last seven at home. The Falcons are just 2-18 at the UAA Sports Center and have lost eight straight there since 1990-91. The Seawolves are led by forward Peter Bullock (18.5 points, 9.0 boards) and lead the series 24-13, despite a 95-64 loss in Seattle Jan. 19. Thursday's game can be heard live on the Internet at http://www.goseawolves.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=audiovideo...SPU leads Alaska Fairbanks in the series 37-8, winning eight of the last 10, including an 81-56 victory Jan. 17. The Nanooks, who feature forward John Early (16.7 points, 7.9 rebounds), have lost four in a row and 11 of 12 dating back to Jan. 3.

SPU Coaches. In his 11 years as coach of his alma mater, Ken Bone has directed the Falcons to seven NCAA tournament berths, five conference titles and 11 consecutive winning records. His winning percentage of .712 is the best in school history, surpassing even the legendary Les Habegger. From 1995-2000 Bone's teams advanced to the regional championship game five times, including a record 27 wins and Final Four appearance in 2000. Jeff Hironaka is in his 11th year as associate head coach. Jarrett Mentink returns to the staff after a four-year absence this season. George Parker who first served as an assistant in 1986, returns for his 13th year on the staff. Former all-conference forward Reggie Paul joins the staff after five seasons of playing professionally in Europe and Asia.